Free Food May Be Good For Office Morale, But It Promotes Overeating If Kept At A Close Distance

Baker Stuart’s Insight: Whilst more and more companies are offering free food in the workplace because of it’s morale-boosting potential, there is evidence that it can promote over-eating. Researchers at Google’s New York office found that when snacks are located close to the beverage station, the likelihood of snacking almost doubles, for men and women.

This just in: More companies are looking to offer free food as a way to boost employee satisfaction, as well as incentivize productivity and morale around the office. Whether that’s weekly bagels, happy hours, nutritious options under a workplace wellness program, or a full-on campus of cafes — we’re looking at you, Google — employers are using snacks to promote continued hard work. But are they also promoting unhealthy eating habits? That depends, according to new research published in the journal Appetite.

Researchers from Saint Joseph’s and Yale Universities found that snack placement determines how much or how little an employee eats. They examined snacking behavior and consumption at Google’s New York Office when food was both closer and farther from a beverage station. When the beverage station was closer to the snack station, employees were more likely to swipe something than when the snacks and beverages were further apart. For men, the likelihood of snacking increased from 12 to 23 percent while the likelihood for women increased 10 to 17 percent…